Removable swivel head for tool handles



March 7, 1967 H SONTAG 3,307,437

I REMOVABLE SWIVEL HEAD FOR TOOL HANDLES Filed April 8, 1965 INVENTOFHARCO UR T. SONTAG ATTORNIZI' United States Patent 3,397,437 REMOVAELESWHVEL HEAD FOR TOOL HANDLES Harcourt Sontag, 4717 37th St. N.,

Arlington, Va. 22207 Filed Apr. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 446,499

1 Ciaim. (Cl. 81177) This invention relates to separate swivel heads forquick application to the outer end of a rigid handle of a tool whichrequires a turning movement with or without axially applied pressure tooperate the tool.

The object of this invention is to facilitate and hasten the operationof any tool with a handle requiring turning movement while in engagementwith the work, such as the operation of a wrench, screwdriver, handdrill, crank, etc.

A more specific object is to facilitate the use of the common cross bartype of tire lug wrench having a different size socket at the end ofeach arm.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the followingdetailed description of a preferred form of the invention, asillustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the swivel head mounted on the outer endof a cross-bar tire lug wrench applied to a nut on one of the wheelmounting lugs,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of this swivel head by itself,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cross-bar wrench, one arm of which isbroken away to show an enlarged crosssectional view of the swivel headmounted on the end of said arm, and

FIG. 4 is a perspectiveview of the wrench and swivel head in operation.

The swivel head 10 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 as applied to theconventional cross bar type of tire lug wrench having different sizehexagonal sockets 12, 14, 16 and 18 at the outer ends of its arms.

A Wheel 22 is shown mounted on wheel mounting lugs 20. Socket 18 beingthe size of the nuts 21 that fit these lugs, the swivel head It) isapplied to the opposite arm over the socket 14, and may be kept on thatlug not only to facilitate the use of socket 18, but also to serve as anindication that socket 18 is the proper size socket for nuts 21 thatwill fit lugs 20, so that the user will not have to look for the properone of the four different size sockets as he would have to do if he didnot have this indication, and would probably have to try one or more ofthe other three sockets before striking the right size. The mainfunction of the swivel head, however, is to facilitate the use of anytool requiring a turning operation and having a rigid headed handle, thecross bar wrench being only one tool of this type.

The swivel head 10 has a rotatably mounted knob 24 on the outer end of acap portion 26 by means of a swivel pin 28. A thrust bearing washer 30fixed to the outside of the cap portion 26 and the wali 34 of the knobstructure have opposed circular races for the bearing balls 32 of thisthrust bearing.

The cap portion 26 is adapted to receive the rigid headed handle of anytool, such as the wrench socket 14 happens to be in the presentillustration, which is on the outer end of the tool handle opposite fromthe tool head being applied to the work, which in this case happens tobe the wrench socket 18.

The four extensions 36 from the outer edge of the cap portion 26 arecurved as shown to form spring clamp jaws to grip over the socket 14,which is the rigid head of the tool handle in the present illustration,the outwardly curved or fiared outer ends of the clamp jaws 36 enablethe swivel head to be pushed over the rigid head or end of the toolhandle, so as to resiliently grip around the handle and hold the swivelhead in place until removed by pulling it off the tool handle.

The swivel head is especially useful where axial pressure or thrust isrequired against the work while turning the tool. The substantially flattop of the knob adapts it to be used as a breast plate to provide thenecessary axial pressure against the work While leaving the hands freeto apply the required torque to turn the tool.

The swivel head is very simple in construction and is very useful inthat it makes the job of changing tires with their wheels much easierand speedier and eliminates the danger of getting blisters on handswhich would normally result from the excessive pressure concentrationsand friction required in gripping the rigid tool handle while operatingthe tool without a swivel head. The spring clamp jaws make the swivelhead easy to mount and remove from any handle and occupies little spacein storage.

Cap portion 26 may have a stepped pocket in the hollow of the cap toprovide shoulders of different sizes for fitting over handle ends ofdifferent sizes, to reduce lateral play between the cap portion and thehandle ends of different sizes corresponding to the several sizes of theshoulders.

Many obvious modifications in details of the construction may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, asdefined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In the combination of a cross bar type tire lug wrench in which thecross bars define four projections, each pro jection terminating in asocket, at least one socket having an outside diameter larger than theoutside diameter of at least one other socket and a removable swivelhead mounted on one socket of said wrench, the improvement whichcomprises the following elements in combination with said swivel head,

a spring clamp mounting cap portion of said swivel head having shouldersfitting over the smaller and the larger socket of said wrench, said capportion having at least three curved spring tongues extending from itsedge and resiliently clamping around either socket,

arotatably mounted knob on the outside of the cap portion,

a first ball bearing having opposed circular race grooves on the innerend of said knob and the outer end of said cap portion, respectively, toprovide annular races, and

bearing balls in said races.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 861,010 7/1907Zeman. 1,381,900 6/1921 Barnes. 1,487,917 3/1924 Cameron 29433 1,638,2528/1927 Fitzgerald 81177 2,465,152 3/ 1949 Ellison 81-177 WILLIAMFELDMAN, Primary Examiner. MILTON S. MEI-IR, Examiner.

